Core B: Outcomes Core (Core B: Minami) The Outcomes Core has 4 objectives 1) To provide surgical models of myocardial infarction to serve as a basis for studying the effects of stem-cell therapy in myocardial infarct repair. 2) To provide in-vivo physiology endpoint measurements using echocardiography, MRI, and microspheres to determine functional improvement post-engraftment 3) To provide basic tissue preparation and sectioning to allow each project to study endpoints at the fissue level. 4) To develop a canine model of myocardial infarction and grafting techniques to allow us to study the effects of embryonic-stem cell derived cardiomyocytes and mesenchymal stem cells in large animal models so that we can be one step closer to bringing this therapy to the clinical setting.